Ridership record to SFO set over Thanksgiving holiday

BART passengers set a ridership record to the San Francisco International (SFO) Station during the Thanksgiving holiday travel period.  Beginning with the Wednesday before Thanksgiving through and including the Monday afterward, 62,600 customers went in and out of the SFO Station.  That’s a 10% jump over the same period last year.

"Ridership was double our projections," BART Board President Gail Murray said. "Clearly a slowing economy has more people choosing BART over a high-priced cab or shuttle to the airport."

A BART ticket from downtown San Francisco to the airport is $5.35. On the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, one of the busiest travel days of the year, BART's customer on-time performance was at 98% during the morning commute.

CONSIDER AIRPORT/LONG-TERM PARKING FOR HOLIDAY TRAVEL

From the Wednesday before Thanksgiving 2008 through and including the Monday afterward, BART sold 3,470 days of airport/long-term parking permits.

Riders can avoid the high cost of airport parking by reserving a long-term parking space at $5/day at any East Bay BART parking lot, except West Oakland, Union City, Coliseum/Oakland Airport and Lake Merritt stations. Peninsula stations with available airport/long-term parking are Colma, San Bruno and Millbrae.  Parking permits at the peninsula stations cost $6/day.

To take advantage of the long-term parking offer, customers can purchase a permit securely online at www.BART.gov/parking.  Permits are only available online and not at stations. First-time customers can learn how to purchase a ticket by watching BARTtv News at www.BART.gov/BARTtv.